“I’m possible”
In her speeches, Shen repeatedly stresses her belief that the word “impossible” actually means “I’m possible.” She challenges people’s belief that some things are impossible and employs this philosophy in her work. Apart from narrowing the educational resources gap between rich and poor and between city and country, Shen has also built a website that provides a wide range of resources for recent immigrants. The resources include Taiwanese dialect lessons, driver’s license practice exams, practical information for living in Taiwan, and legal advice.
The range of her concern for disadvantaged people extends to farmers and manual laborers.
As a lover of photography, Shen spends her leisure time capturing images of manual workers across Taiwan, with more than 260,000 photos taken over the years and later used to set up a website dedicated to profiling the grassroots workers of Taiwan.
The motivation to create a photographic record of working people was inspired by an incident that Shen describes thus: “Once I was out walking when I overheard a conversation between a mother and her child. The mother was scolding the child by pointing out the sweating laborers on construction site scaffolding: ‘You’ll end up like them if you don’t study.’ I felt so very sad when I heard the mother’s comments.”
Shen believes that farmers, fishermen and the broad range of grassroots workers are in fact the lifeblood of Taiwanese society. Her photographic record allows those hardworking people laboring in the sun a sort of voice—the website, which records the lives of Taiwan’s common people, has so far attracted more than 12 million visits, and has won awards for creativity and design in a special exhibition at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The philosophy of 95
Many people wonder how a young woman is able to balance a heavy study load and such a range of philanthropic activities. Shen embraces her own philosophy of “95.” Let’s say that you are 95% satisfied with your schoolwork. You could use all your time and energy to get that 95 up to 100, a gain of only five. But if your starting point is zero, that same time and energy invested elsewhere could give you a level of 50 or 60, a huge gain. Since Shen started out at “zero” in charity work, she is willing to sacrifice the extra few points of academic rank for what she gains by doing what she loves.
Although her academic performance is not top-level, her many years of charity work have made her resumé all the more impressive. Also, she has comprehensive skills in computer technology, with 37 professional certifications in the IT field, and earnings of NT$4 million from company website design. All profits go towards her charity work.
After being recommended and admitted to the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Shen graduated one semester early during this year’s university winter break, and was offered admission to nine master’s programs at National Taiwan University (NTU), NTHU, National Chiao Tung University and National Chengchi University.
Family support is her mainstay. Her mother, Xu Lijuan, is her greatest ally, assisting when she has to stay up late preparing teaching materials, or goes out taking photos all over Taiwan. This is quite a unique situation: most university students are generally striving for independence from their parents.
Shen plans to study in NTU’s Graduate Institute of Journalism in September, hoping to become a freelance journalist and continue being a voice for the disadvantaged. She has been so busy that she has had no time for love, and she never has time for the sort of leisure activities enjoyed by most young people—but she has no regrets.
Journalists who have interviewed Shen often become fascinated with her story—how can such a young woman possess such energy and enthusiasm for the welfare of others? She is one of a new generation who are bold enough to challenge themselves. At her still tender age, Shen has accomplished much—more than most will achieve in a lifetime.